Monday, April 27, 2015

The weather in San Francisco seems to have retreated back to winter. I'm wearing a puffy jacket and sitting in an ugly little cafe with great coffee and a barista with eclectic taste in music. When I sat down it was Redbone's Come and Get Your Love, and now Blondie is purring ooo, whoa, ooo, whoa. His music makes it feel good in here.

I saw a sad mattress leaning against an apartment door on my way down the hill this morning, the same door that had a dirty old television blocking it on Saturday. This is supposed to be a fairly nice neighborhood, but it definitely has its oddities.

On a cold grey day, it feels good to escape into a place without wind, arrange coffee, notebook, and pen on a table, lean back into a chair, listen to some good music, and see where the mind drifts.

There's a pudgy guy in the cafe, sitting in a black leather chair, wearing basketball shorts and reading a tiny paperback with a raised gold title. Science fiction? Mystery? Romance? I don't care. A huge loud truck is idling just outside the door.

Now September by Earth, Wind & Fire, which always reminds me of our wedding. September is the best month in San Francisco, and a wonderful month for honeymooning. September makes it easier to ignore the truck.

I've let my cappuccino sit for too long. It's cold and flabby, but not all bad. I'm still drinking it... Everything seems okay--the grey sky, loud city, intricacies of this wallflower cafe--and I'm feeling such an affection for it all. I have some unexpected free time today and I guess I just started feeling cheesy and happy to be alive. I know, but... No one reads blog posts anymore, right? Might as well say what I please.

Earlier today, about a block before I saw the mattress, I started craving frozen fish sticks. No idea
where this originated. I haven't bitten into a fish stick in decades, but I used to love them. I was obsessed with frozen entrees as a child. Our treat for staying with a babysitter was a TV dinner or pot pie. I liked frozen fried chicken too.

The closest I might have come to a fish stick in the recent past would be a Filet-O-Fish in a McDonald's, but sheesh, I don't even know the last time that happened. I did pass a McDonald's in Newport Beach a few months ago and the idea crossed my mind. Memories of childhood... But sadly, I did not follow through. I probably drank a green smoothie or ate a salad instead. What a disgrace.

I need to waltz into the Safeway frozen foods section and find the familiar box with the Gorton's fisherman on it. But does Gorton's still exist? Do they still freeze sticks of fish? I'd also need prepared mayonnaise and sweet pickle relish to make a tartar sauce like my dad used to make.

When I was an undergrad I'd buy hamburger buns and sliced American cheese and knock off the Filet-O-Fish by placing four fish sticks on a bun I'd toast with cheese and then slather with the tartar mentioned above, but it was never the same without the squishy bun McDonald's serves.

Mom loved the Filet-O-Fish too. I wonder if she ever hits the drive-thru for memory's sake.

And when I was a little girl I'd often walk to McDonald's with my grandpa. During our strolls he'd always ask, what do you feel like? I'd say, a fish filet (I never referred to the Filet-O-Fish by its proper name), and he'd say...

Wait! Now Janis Joplin's Piece of My Heart. I think I'm in love with this barista and this cold coffee, and the ugly furniture.

So anyway... As I was saying. Grandpa asks, what do you feel like? (As in, what are you going to order at McDonald's today?) I say, a fish filet. He says, you don't look like a fish filet. I laugh hysterically, every time.

It's quieter now. A white van with Del Monte Meat Co. on the side is parked outside the door of the cafe. Probably a delivery for Leopold's. The guy with the tiny paperback is gone. I don't know this song.

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Did you watch the Redbone video? How the heck is the audience just sitting there? I was listening to the song and couldn't help but sit-dance on the sofa while typing. Then I had to stand up and play it again. And maybe a few more times.

...if you want someTake some, get it together, babyCome and get your love

39 comments:

Good Morning! I haven't thought about frozen fish sticks in ages! My boys loved them and I would spell out their names when I put them on the cooking sheet. Each of their names took 11 sticks. :)

So, the really great thing about this random coffee shop talk is that I feel like I know you a hundred times better now. I guess ordinary conversation does that . . . and I still read blog posts. I sure hope blogging doesn't die out.

HI Denise, It seems like it's been a while since you posted one of your coffeeshop missives, which I enjoy--the simple observations of people, sights, music, food, and the thoughts they conjure.Yep, the Gordon's fisherman is still freezing those little sticks!And like Sarah, (and many others,) I'm still reading. Enjoy your gray day---hope it warms up soon.

Well, I-in-italics still read your posts.I hear such a different voice in this one - lighter, years shaved off, somehow. Like you've gotten rid of a sad mattress and a dirty old television too, and feel better for it :) Loved it.

I still read blog posts and I prefer them big on text and light on images - this was just perfect. My husband and I were just talking yesterday about McDonald's in light of it's 400 million quarterly loss and we were speculating that that is all McDonald's is anymore - a memory...

"I was obsessed with frozen entrees as a child. Our treat for staying with a babysitter was a TV dinner or pot pie. I liked frozen fried chicken too."

Oh my goodness, this is me, right down to the babysitter!! :-) And do you remember the yummy cherry cobbler that came with the Swanson Fried Chicken TV dinner? Oh so yummy.

Like you, I've not had a fish stick in decades. As a child we were "forced" to have them every Friday for dinner, because the Catholic church said you could not eat meat on Fridays. For us, it was never a bad thing though. We loved them.

I just added fish sticks to this weeks grocery list. Oh, and LOTS of tartar sauce too.

Does this mean you like the song Come and Get Your Love? I'm feeling quite wounded here as I read through the comments (yes, I do still actually read them--too much time on my hands...) and see no mention of my link to this fabulous song. Tell me you are listening, and dancing.

What is it about the Filet-O-Fish? My childhood favorite too, and one I haven't had in YEARS. It's uncanny that just last night we had frozen fish for dinner. I need to bump it up and make those sandwiches you mentioned. If you ever come out to the East Coast, I'm taking you to Gloucester and you can see the statue of the Gorton's Fisherman. And then we'll hit the Mickey D's drive-thru. So did you ever make it to Safeway?

There's a statue of the Gorton's Fisherman? Fabulous! I'd love to see it with you. Yes, I made it to Safeway last night and served my husband his first fish stick sandwich. Melted cheese, tartar sauce... He was impressed.

I went to Safeway last night and bought a box of Gorton's fish sticks. We made the little sandwiches on hamburger buns and they were pretty darn good, just as I remembered. I'm fairly sure everyone in Safeway last night at 8pm was hungry for dinner and didn't give a hoot what was in my basket. Maybe 8pm will work for you too. ;)

Fortunate enough here to have worked with children for the past umpteen years... Fish sticks, fish sandwiches were still a basic staple on the menu. In addition to stick and fillet, they now come in cute little fish shapes that bake up crispy in the oven. No surprise on the sedate Redbone audience...that staged 70s crowd... Wouldn't be the same now a days. In fact, I am mentally grooving with them now. I went to a concert in the 60s... The Beau Brummels...performed Laugh, Laugh (my personal favorite)... I had the audacity to sway in my seat. Got lots of dirty looks and a comment or two from the more sophisticated college crowd! Enjoyed the coffee shop visit.. Keep writing...we'll keep reading!

I always love to read your observations of people and your surroundings and all your memories the often evoke. Truthfully, I don't read as many blogs as I used to--hell I don't post on my own like I used to--but I always look forward to your posts.

Your form of writing, so very evident in this post, is why yours will always be a blog that I read as long as you post (granted, it may take weeks to get here but I always will). Everything about this post...the style, the words...transplanting me into that cafe with the songs and the people...making me think of fish sticks and fish filets and my conversations with my grandfather...